| This dissertation examined the development of writing in school-age children from a process-oriented perspective by examining pause patterns and the characteristics of language bursts between pauses. Study 1 investigated the development and operation of different writing processes during on-line text production of typically developing third and fifth graders. Fifth graders paused less frequently than third graders, but their pause duration was similar to the pause duration of third graders'. Fifth graders wrote more words between pauses than third graders. Revision rates were similar in both grades. The findings suggest that fifth graders are more advanced than third graders in the development of writing processes (i.e., planning, text generation, and transcription) whereas revising process does not mature from third grade to fifth grade. The advanced development of planning, text generation, and transcription in fifth grade facilitates the operation of these processes to partially overlap with each other. Revising process does not occur as frequently as other processes in both grades. However, when it does, its operation can sometimes overlap with the operation of text generation and transcription.;Study 2 investigated the effects of writing mediums (i.e., handwriting and typing) on the operation of writing processes during on-line text production of typically developing fifth and seventh graders and on the relation between writing processes and writing quality. Pauses occurred more frequently in typing than in handwriting. As typing skills improved from fifth grade to seventh grade, difference in pause rate between typing and handwriting decreased. Words between pauses were shorter in typing than in handwriting. Overall revision rate and meaning revising rate were higher in typing than in handwriting. There were some indications of positive association between meaning revision rate and writing quality. Overall pause rate was negatively associated with writing quality in fifth grade in both mediums. The findings suggest that the way handwriting and typing influenced the operation of different writing processes differed. However, the role of writing mediums in accounting for the relation between writing processes and writing quality appears to be limited. |
